How and why do differences between people become disabilities? Are some differences between people necessarily disabling? Do answers to these questions hold for all possible human societies—or do they require special answers in societies organized according to production for profit? This talk will explain the social model of disability oppression developed by Marxists and disability activists in Britain in the late 1970s, showing how a Marxist analysis of the labor market and the state can help us to further develop this model to advance the fight against disability oppression in the age of austerity.